STORRS – Before a practice leading into Tuesday’s UConn men’s basketball game against Providence, Dan Hurley made sure to have a conversation with backup point guard Malachi Smith.
Since transferring in from Dayton, Smith had shown the ways he can impact winning in some of the Huskies’ biggest nonconference games, particularly at Madison Square Garden, where he had 14 points and nine assists against Illinois and nine assists again against Florida. But he struggled to make the same impact once Big East play began, unable to get into a flow with the offense and make the correct decisions with the ball, leaving the team highly reliant on Silas Demary Jr., who has had a knack for getting into foul trouble.
Since the start of Big East play, Smith hadn’t scored more than five points in a game or dished more than three assists until Tuesday night.
“Malachi, he just put himself in horrible positions, I think we put him in horrible positions a couple times when centers didn’t run to the ball when things broke down so we could get into some five-out action where he had some late shot clock, like ‘what the (bleep) is going on’ (moments),” Hurley said. “We had a conversation with him (Sunday or Monday) that like, we can’t do this without you.”
“He was like, ‘We need you to step up,’” Smith remembered. “He asked if I was mentally tough, I told him, ‘Yes, Coach.’ and that kind of gave me a little confidence, knowing that the team needs me just to impact the game whether it’s on defense or if it’s not just scoring. So yeah, we talked about it before practice and he was like, ‘Just play better. Whatever minutes you get, make the most out of it.’ I just wanted to make sure I was ready.”
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Smith was a bright spot in another close victory, making a career-high four 3-pointers without a miss from beyond the arc, dishing seven assists with two steals, a block and no turnovers.
“He guarded, he played with a lot of energy, he picked his spots well. He took good, open shots. He had a good approach,” Hurley said. “If he would’ve played the way he had been playing today, combined with some of the other shooting woes we had – I thought a lot of open shots, what’s concerning is we’re missing a lot of open shots – but Malachi, that was the positive development, with the centers today.”
It can be hard to come into a new program and learn a new offense while being held to a high standard – especially at UConn, where Hurley runs one of the most complex systems in the nation and expects that standard to be championship-level. It can be even more of a challenge to come off the bench, never knowing quite how many minutes you’ll be in, and maintain the flow of the game.
“It’s difficult, just trying to make sure I run the team perfectly as coach wants,” Smith said. “But my teammates give me the confidence, they trust me with the ball and that helps me… We’ve been practicing hard, competing, so we know the work we put in, we know how much of an impact we are to the team. So we just want to stay ready, make sure we come out and have a positive impact on the game.”
Freshman center Eric Reibe was in a similar position, seeing few minutes and not having much of an impact off the bench since the Huskies’ road trip to Providence. He only played eight minutes in that game, Smith played four, and neither made a shot as the entire bench unit combined for just three points.
On Tuesday, Smith played a season-high 30 minutes and Reibe played 21, his most since Dec. 5 against East Texas A&M, when the Huskies didn’t have Tarris Reed Jr. due to injury.
Finishing with 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field with eight rebounds, a pair of blocks and a steal, it was Reibe’s most impactful game since Reed returned to the starting lineup. The two-headed monster at center, which “saved” the game, according to Hurley, combined for 33 points on 14-for-15 shooting from the field with 14 rebounds, six blocks and two steals.
“I think that’s the potential that those two guys can give us on a nightly basis. I think we’ve got to get those guys the ball more, obviously we have to play Eric more because he had a huge impact on the game,” Hurley said.
“He’s really special,” Reed said. “He’s the reason we won the game. I feel like, just me getting older, being a senior, having a young guy, a freshman that’s so talented, so poised. Me being, like, his leader is really special. Just helping my guy E, man. Pouring everything I’ve got into him and to see him out on the court was amazing.”
Mullins’ concussion symptoms ‘progressing nicely’
UConn missed having Braylon Mullins against the Friars, who he scored 24 points against and put away in overtime when they met in Providence earlier this month. In concussion protocol after a hit he took to the face from Villanova’s Acaden Lewis on Saturday, it appeared to be a positive sign that he was at the game, sitting at the end of the bench in street clothes.
He could presumably return to action as soon as Saturday, when the Huskies head out to Omaha in search of their second-consecutive road win over Creighton. Last year, it was a stellar 38-point double-double from freshman Liam McNeeley that helped the program to its first-ever road win over the Bluejays.
“I think (Mullins is) doing well, he looked good (Tuesday), he ramps it up. He’s gonna potentially do some things on the court (Wednesday) just to see how he’s feeling,” Hurley said. “I think the symptoms are progressing nicely for him, so obviously we’re gonna take great care of him, but we’ll see. I think he’s healing well from it.”
